I recently created a set of Easter slides for the folks at Sharefaith.

The client wanted something bright and happy so I went to my source of bright happy things—my paintings. You may not recognize it, but that color burst is the end result of manipulating one of my paintings in Photoshop.

A while back I released several Abstract Paint volumes with high resolution digital versions of my abstract paint pieces. It's been cool to see the different ways people use them. My favorite use so far is the "Abstract Paint ABC" series that my bud, Max Morin, has been doing.

Check out the letters up through M below, then follow him on Instagram to see the rest of the series unfold. You can also check out more of Max's work on his website.

I recently created a series of Easter sermon artwork for the folks at Sharefaith.

Easter (especially Good Friday) is one of my favorite concepts to explore with my art and design. There is such extreme beauty and ugliness wrapped up in this event. It has many theological complexities to explore, yet it also contains many profound simple truths. It is horrifically violent, yet through it Jesus gives us a crystal clear example of non-violence and loving your enemies. This stuff blows my mind and I'll never get tired of it.

For these, the client wanted three unified designs—Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter—that could be used all through Holy Week. It was a fun challenge to figure out how to give all the pieces a unified, yet unique look, as well as trying to capture the beauty/ugliness contrast. I'm very proud of how these turned out.

The full set is available on Sharefaith.

Big thanks to the folks at Sharefaith (especially the Art Director, Juliet Towner).

I recently created a set of slides based on the concept of "The Lies We Believe" for the folks at Sharefaith.

The topic of lies/evil versus truth/good is one of my favorite things to illustrate. You've got good, evil and the struggle between them. I knew from the start that I wanted to use a black, white and red color palette—bold, contrasting colors that communicate that struggle. I also knew it should have a really gritty vibe to help communicate the messiness of that struggle.

I recently created sermon art based on the concept of "Standing in the Storms" for the folks at Sharefaith.

There is already a lot of sermon art based on storm visuals and I wanted this one to feel new and unique. Most art I've seen based on this concept focuses exclusively on the negative—the oppressive storm. I wanted to also allude to the positive—the idea that we have access to a power that helps us weather, and even overcome, the storms. In order to make this unique and to bring in some of that positive and exciting energy, I decided to give it a strong 1980s vibe. Bright colors, smoke, lightning, etc. It was a ridiculous amount of fun.

I recently created a set of slides based on the concept of "Love and War" for the folks at Sharefaith.

I wanted to represent the strong contrast of Love/War. In any relationship, there are highs and lows. Times when you are in a groove and times where you hit a lot of bumps. I decided to capture that contrast of good and bad times and decided on a split image of a rose.

I recently created a set of slides based on Black History Month for the folks at Sharefaith.

I've been very interested interested in African-American history for a while, so I was thrilled to be able to work on this set. The most difficult thing for this project was narrowing in on the few people to include. I knew I wanted to represent a spectrum eras, gender and areas of influence. I ended up with the following:

Frederick Douglass – A social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement and wrote several books including his highly influential autobiography, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave."

Jackie Robinson – The first African-American major league baseball player in the modern era. He had an impact on the culture of and contributed significantly to the Civil Rights Movement.

Martin Luther King, Jr. – Minister, activist, humanitarian, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs.

Ella Fitzgerald – A highly influential jazz singer known for noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing and intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability.

George Washington Carver – Born into slavery in the 1860s, Carver became a well known botanist and inventor. Through his botany work he wanted to help poor farmers grow alternative crops both as a source of their own food and as a source of other products to improve their quality of life.

Rosa Parks – In 1955, Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white passenger. This simple act of resistance became one of the most important symbols of the modern Civil Rights Movement. The thing I especially love about Rosa Parks is that she was known to be "timid and shy" but had "the courage of a lion."

Ida B. Wells – A journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, sociologist, Georgist, and an early leader in the Civil Rights Movement.

Secondary slides

If you follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, you may have seen this series of "Blessed to Death" pieces I did over the last month. I captioned every single piece "#blessed" and here's why.

It's interesting that if you look at the Beatitudes—Jesus' definitive teaching on who is blessed—he never mentions people who are happy, have a high status or a vast amount of wealth. He doesn't mention those who are privileged by birth or have just plain good luck. In fact, he basically mentions the opposite of what our current culture would describe as blessed. Rather, Jesus says it's the downtrodden, those who are in mourning, those who are meek, merciful and bring peace to troubled situations. It's those who are persecuted by others.

Yet in our current American religious culture, we've bastardized the word. I almost always hear it in regards to having privilege, status, wealth and possessions. Being "blessed" with a promotion a high salary, a second home, a luxury car, etc. Kinda sucks for people who don't have a high status or wealth or a great job (or any job at all), right? In fact, this wealth definition of "blessed" indicts everyone who may not have those things.

So who is blessed? Again, I look to Jesus. He said its downtrodden and those who are in mourning. It's those who are meek, merciful and bring peace to troubled situations. It's those who are persecuted by others.

You might even say that "blessed" looks like being tortured, ridiculed and crucified while loving those who are doing those things to you. When those with power, wealth and privilege crucified a meek, poor Jewish Rabbi, it was actually Jesus who was bursting at the seams with blessing, bringing life into a dark world.

It's time to crucify the self-centered, materialistic, wealth-based idea of "blessed." Who's with me?

All 4 pieces in this series are available to purchase on my print shop.